choke element

Chapter 1046 Decisive Battle (Part )

The main force of the Mongolian army marched southward from Xiazhou, with Jochi and Chagatai as the vanguard, followed by the main army, passing through Suide, Yanzhou, Danzhou and other places along the way.

For hundreds of years, Song and Xia, Jin and Xia have been repeating wars and peace in the thousands of ravines and valleys along this border. However, peace is always short-lived, and war is always cruel. As time goes by, the population in these thousands of hills and valleys becomes increasingly sparse, and cities with the ability to protect themselves are even rarer.

Until recent years, with the rapid decline of the Jin and Xia kingdoms, many places nominally belonged to the Jin or Xia kingdoms, but in fact no one cared about them decades ago. Most of the Han farmers who originally lived here also lost their jobs, and various tribes rose up instead, and even various tribal leaders who called themselves generals and military governors.

Because the terrain in these areas is desolate and steep, there are often dozens of winding and hidden gullies close to a river valley. Gathering in such terrain is very easy to be attacked by surprise, and it is difficult to guard against the enemy's surprise attack.

The Mongolian army, which had been tempered by the Western Expedition, happened to be the most adept army in the world at surprise attacks, and was also the most capable of overcoming complex terrain and harsh natural environment.

The wastelands, deserts, and snow-capped mountains of Xia were no more difficult than those they had encountered on their westward expedition. Their march across Xia territory was swift and covert, with no news leaked out, and the same should be true when they turned south.

At this time, Genghis Khan's team was crossing a mountain pass and entering a deep canyon.

There was no road in the canyon, only patches of frozen ground. The riverbed where horses could travel was covered with snow, which was trampled into mud by the horses in front. On both sides of the canyon were towering peaks and stacked rocks, which were covered with snow, making the rocks look as dark as iron.

Genghis Khan looked down at the road for a while, then looked up to get some fresh air.

He suddenly discovered that there was a low wall on the top of the mountain that separated him from his team, and behind the low wall there looked like a small village. He couldn't see the specific scale of the village from a distance, but he felt as if there was a sight behind the wall, watching the people and horses passing through the canyon.

With this complex terrain, the army could not move in unison, and could only be divided into dozens or even hundreds of groups, moving along any possible roads. According to yesterday's plan, any fortress in this direction should be destroyed in advance, and no one should be missed!

So he led his horse to a stop at the riverbank and kept staring at that place.

In his sight, a crowd of people appeared near the small village, climbing up like ants. Huge rocks were thrown out from the village one after another, but it could not stop the attacking crowd at all.

Soon they climbed over the low wall, and the sound of fighting broke out in the village. There was an especially agile warrior in the crowd, running along the low wall like a monkey, killing several enemies who tried to block the gap.

His bravery frightened the enemy, and when he rushed to the enemy again, the enemy retreated again and again, and even jumped out from the top of the low wall, probably trying to escape along the steep hillside. But there was no place to land on the snowy mountain, and the enemy's body staggered and rolled, and soon fell to a place where he could not be seen. Only the screams were dragged out, echoing shrilly in the mountains.

Seeing the enemy falling, the agile warrior raised his scimitar high and shouted loudly, which caused cheers and admiration from everyone.

Before setting off, Genghis Khan issued a special order: wherever the army went, there were garrisons and military camps that could not be avoided, they must be surrounded and conquered, and if they encountered scattered soldiers and civilians, they must all be killed. This was not only done in Suide and other places, but they had already done this on the way from Xiping Prefecture of Xia State to Xiazhou.

As the army got closer and closer to the areas ruled by the Han people, the population became denser, and it was difficult to rely on massacres to block the news. However, Genghis Khan did not cancel the order and still required the various tribes to kill along the way.

"Who is in charge of that route? How many people are they with? Who are the ones fighting this time?" Genghis Khan asked.

Borshu, who was the leader of the Qiexue, whispered a few words to an official behind him, and then came up to report: "That group is led by Botu, the son-in-law, and Shuer Chedan is the supervisor. He has two Mongolian thousand households, 867 armored knights, 1,152 Booleans, and 1,493 surrendered people from the Blue-eyed Hui and the Mulayi tribe."

This solid grasp of the situation of subordinates is an important means to establish the power of the Khan. During the Western Expedition of the Mongolian tribes, each thousand households continued to hide a large number of property, population and military forces. For this reason, Genghis Khan granted several subordinates great power and made them his eyes and ears and minions.

This time the army turned back, constantly joined by various vassal tribes, and constantly reorganized. Borshu brought dozens of Uighur merchants recommended by Tatatong'a, plus the Jurchen and Han clerks under the Nianhe Chongshan, who were constantly busy on the way, running around every day, so that they could grasp the accurate number at any time.

Boershu continued, "The ones attacking the village right now should be the Mulayi people... Prince Consort Botu is indeed marching a little slowly, but these Mulayi people are good at crossing mountains and fighting with short knives, which is very useful for attacking small mountain villages. With them as the vanguard, Prince Consort Botu will be able to speed up his march and get to the front soon."

Genghis Khan nodded with satisfaction.

It must be admitted that the Western Expedition brought the Mongols unprecedented wealth and confidence, but it also occupied the Mongols' limited manpower. Many rich places in the Western Regions attracted the Mongols to stay there, and they were unwilling to return to the grasslands to fight against powerful enemies.

Genghis Khan once sent Keshig with a white banner to issue orders in Beshbalik, saying that the return to the Central Plains was related to the safety of the grassland, and that all the thousand households must not be stingy with their lives and money, and must do their best to destroy the Han regime in the south of the grassland. To this end, he also specially pulled all the officials in charge of governance under his sons to his side to put an end to their thoughts of managing the local areas and dominating the Western Regions at home.

As a result, many thousand households still left their capable Naker in the Western Regions, resulting in the number of soldiers of various ethnic groups in the returning army approaching the total number of Mongolian troops. This was even when each tribe continued to promote Bo'ole to Alebatu, that is, free people, to avoid having too few people in their own tribe.

Fortunately, these foreign soldiers driven by the Mongols were very useful. They followed the Mongols and were inspired to be bloodthirsty through killings. They were able to do many particularly hard and dangerous tasks, such as raiding a steep mountain stronghold, neatly and beautifully.

After all, these foreigners can be obedient, can kill, and are particularly active. What is the essential difference between them and the Mongols? The saying that the Mongols are the beloved descendants of the Eternal Heaven is just used to deceive ordinary Mongols. If the Mongols themselves do not cherish their homeland and are unwilling to shed blood for the safety of the grassland, Genghis Khan does not mind welcoming a batch of fresh blood to the grassland.

Thinking of this, Genghis Khan pulled out an arrow from the quiver at his side.

"Send this arrow to the bravest man who just charged into the battle. Tell him that I have given him a Mongolian name, Kekebatu!"

A Qiexue knelt down to receive the arrow, turned around and rode away. At this moment, another rider rushed over and almost drove the Qiexue away with his horse. Qiexue was furious and was about to scold him, but he saw Genghis Khan standing up straight on his horse and asked in a deep voice: "How is it? Have you investigated it clearly?"

The scout jumped off his horse, but his legs weakened and he fell to the ground. His robes were lifted when he landed, revealing several wounds on his body, which showed that he had been in a fight.

This man was a close confidant of Genghis Khan who had been promoted in the past two years. He often carried a golden medal with a tiger head on it to inspect various places on behalf of the Khan. Previously, he led dozens of elite cavalrymen and participated in the vanguard of the entire army. Many of his colleagues were jealous of him. Now seeing him return alone and lose his composure like this, all the Qiexue laughed at him.

Genghis Khan shouted, "I have already said that after entering the plain, the vanguard cavalry will march 200 miles straight to Jingzhao Prefecture and Tongguan! Why are you coming back so early?"

The scout crawled forward a few steps but said nothing.

Genghis Khan frowned and waved: "Even if the Han people in Xijing are prepared, there is no need to be so nervous, right? What's the matter? Come closer and tell me!"

The scout came closer and whispered a few words.

Genghis Khan asked questions in succession, and the scouts answered them one by one.

Genghis Khan's expression was stunned at first, then turned serious. After a while, his seriousness was mixed with a bit of joy and even excitement.

He looked around at the people around him, and then shouted, "Send the order immediately, and ask everyone to prepare for battle. We will see our old friends not far from the mountains!"

A Qiexue asked, "Who is the old friend the Khan is talking about?"

Genghis Khan did not answer, but just laughed out loud.